So this pass school year has been very ruff for me. I was doing very well 3.8 and I got my A.A in a year. I was attending The George Washington University which is washington D.C and is a little far away from home which is in NY. Anyway major family problems started to occur and before I knew it I was going back home literally every weekend. Naturally my grades slipped but I wasn't taking any pre-reqs. so that was good. I ended up getting a 3.4ish. Regardless I had to transfer back home and started to attend Stony Brook Univ. because of those family problems which I said before that I kind of don't wanna talk about. But anyway right now I think I am going to be getting a 2.8 and a D in my 2nd BIO class which is a pre req!!!!!! Im really fricken out here am I doom should I just pack it up switch to a business major and hope for an office job.....Im seriously in a big depression here I dont know what to do please help!!!! SOS!!!
So are my life dreams over.... need someone to talk too :(
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possibly withdraw from the classes. Take a semester off to attend to your family.
You should be fine. a few bad grades won't hurt you. Just show that you can do better in the upper level classes and you will be fine. Don't need to retake them either, just do better in the upper level classes. Good Luck
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If you are doing poorly, step away from school for a while. See if you can get a job with a dentist who will train you as an assistant, or volunteer at a public health dental office while you work a job to pay the bills.
Then when you're ready, go back to school and do well. Retake any classes you had trouble with and work your butt off for the DAT. Your personal statement and interview will show a growth and maturity that is commendable.
Don't give up and settle for something you can do because its the easy way out. I did that, and I regret it, so I'm back in school to change that.
The biggest mistake I made as an undergrad was not knowing when to walk away and take a breather. I pushed and pushed and made things even worse than had I just taken a year or two off.
So.... Take. A. Deep. Breath.
Your dream isn't dead. 👍
Then when you're ready, go back to school and do well. Retake any classes you had trouble with and work your butt off for the DAT. Your personal statement and interview will show a growth and maturity that is commendable.
Don't give up and settle for something you can do because its the easy way out. I did that, and I regret it, so I'm back in school to change that.
The biggest mistake I made as an undergrad was not knowing when to walk away and take a breather. I pushed and pushed and made things even worse than had I just taken a year or two off.
So.... Take. A. Deep. Breath.
Your dream isn't dead. 👍
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Take a semester off, for sure. Take two if need be. I was dealing with crappy things and got bad grades in spring/summer/fall before I decided to drop fall and take winter off, and then I came back strong. I should have dropped way back in spring.
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I think you probably will need to retake BIO2 (if you get a D) since most, if not all, schools require a grade of C or better in the pre-reqs.
Good luck. Take care of yourself and your family, then dive into classes again when the situation allows. Dental schools aren't going anywhere, so just keep on trying.
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Hey man,
I feel your pain. Thats a tough story to read. You had a strong GPA before the transfer. The road to dentistry is gonna be hard for u. Might think about doing a master program. A 2.8 is not going to get a lot of looks, I honestly dont even know how many programs will pass that GPA to the adm committee. But hey keep your head up, if dentistry is what you want, I know a guy that had a 2.5 GPa from Math that did a grad program and took additional courses at a state school that got in after 3 years of apps. Im definitely pulling for u if u are still going for dentistry.
I feel your pain. Thats a tough story to read. You had a strong GPA before the transfer. The road to dentistry is gonna be hard for u. Might think about doing a master program. A 2.8 is not going to get a lot of looks, I honestly dont even know how many programs will pass that GPA to the adm committee. But hey keep your head up, if dentistry is what you want, I know a guy that had a 2.5 GPa from Math that did a grad program and took additional courses at a state school that got in after 3 years of apps. Im definitely pulling for u if u are still going for dentistry.
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No. Taking time off is better than barely graduating. Plus you can spin the life experience angle.
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They might ask what you did with your time off. So if you play it smart, you can use that to your advantage by coming up with some inspirational BS about it.
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My brother recieved all B's and C's his first two semesters of undergrad. He matured and decided that B's weren't good enough to get into grad school and retook all of his classes the next year and got all A's. Because his grades improved throughout the years he was accepted to every dental school in which he applied. Improving your grades from this point on should be your main goal and will show maturity. Plus it will give you something to write about on your personal statement. Good Luck!!!
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Improving your grades from this point on should be your main goal and will show maturity. Plus it will give you something to write about on your personal statement.Okay well not getting into anything to specific the family problems is one of my family members suffers from the disease of alcholism and thankful everything is working out now, but this family member affected not only me but everyone esle. This is why I kept on having to come back home and why my grades slipped a little. I know i can do better and I AM going to do better.......My question if anyone out there can answer is in my personal statement would it be benefical for me to tell them the truth tell them someone suffers from alcoholism and it effected me and my whole family or do they just see that as making excuses? Do they like to here things like that and then show how I had a problem and worked threw it or I should just leave it alone say it was a family problem it was fixed I matured and got better grades?????
--> If anyone out there can help, much appreciation because i was thinking about wether or not i should mention what happened when the time comes and I dont want something like this ruining my chances
AND THANK YOU EVERYONE SOOOOO SOOO SOOO MUCH I HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THIS ONLINE COMMUNITY AND IT ROCKS !!!!! Def. helped me back up from the depressed hole I was in. Just gotta see the glass half full like all of you guys!! THANKS AGAIN SO MUCH!!!!
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I think that could be discussed, but a better way is to let ur adviser know, if you have a pre-health committee, because it will sound a lot better if it came out the professor's mouth explaining the fact that you have the potential to do it but sudden family problem occur in their recommendation letter to the dental school.
i would certainly tell them what happened. in a 4 year period everyone will have their issues that come up, for some they will be more serious than for others, and admissions people will take that into consideration. it doesn't erase your grades, its not an excuse (so don't try to make it one), its just an explanation for why you might be a stronger candidate than it first appears.
Hey everyone!!!!
Seriously thank you so much for the support. i really don't know what I would do without you. Well this post might be a little long but if anyone has time and could read it below and tell me what they think it would be greatly apprecitated. I took all of your advice and seriously thought about what I should do. You are all right if I really want to be a dentist then this is only a small bump in the road Im sure there will be much bigger ones on my road to dentistry. Well here is my plan please let me know if you all think it would be a good idea or not.......THANK YOU ALL AGAIN YOU SERIOUSLY ARE ALL THE BEST N REALLY REALLY HELPING ME OUT HERE!!! 🙂
If I don't finish my Pre-Reqs for dental school I can actually graduate early a year and a half early to be exact. So I was thinking and taking all the advice that I got on this forum and thinking maybe I should take a break. My plan as of now is to finish one more semester and graduate early with a major in History. Then I am going to take sometime time off to gather my mind and make sure my family is straight so my grades wont be affected again. I was thinking of taking about a year off, maybe a little less got to see how I feel. But technically not a year "off" I would try to work as a Dental assistant somewhere. i already went on craigslist and there are tons of offers in the NYC area where i am from. I figured this would be good because I would be taking "time off" but i am also getting real life experience. Then after about a year I wanted to go back to school as a post-bac. Here I would work on my pre-reqs. and then apply to dental school after all my pre-reqs. are done with. Also since I am graduating early its really not like I would be very far behind if I decided to go this route.
So what do you think this a good plan. Its a little long but I think it makes me a much better candidate when applying to dental school because I will have experience and I can say I had the option to graduate early and I did. I did it because I wanted to make sure the dental feild was right for me, before I completed all my pre-reqs. After I finish with the dental assistant job I can really say yes this is what I want to do or no this is what I dont want to do, and this can give me the motivatation and will power to complete my post-bac and apply for dental school.
...........WOW that is long!!! Its a long road, but you think that it is the right road or I am making a mistake!! Your help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you soooo much again!!
Seriously thank you so much for the support. i really don't know what I would do without you. Well this post might be a little long but if anyone has time and could read it below and tell me what they think it would be greatly apprecitated. I took all of your advice and seriously thought about what I should do. You are all right if I really want to be a dentist then this is only a small bump in the road Im sure there will be much bigger ones on my road to dentistry. Well here is my plan please let me know if you all think it would be a good idea or not.......THANK YOU ALL AGAIN YOU SERIOUSLY ARE ALL THE BEST N REALLY REALLY HELPING ME OUT HERE!!! 🙂
If I don't finish my Pre-Reqs for dental school I can actually graduate early a year and a half early to be exact. So I was thinking and taking all the advice that I got on this forum and thinking maybe I should take a break. My plan as of now is to finish one more semester and graduate early with a major in History. Then I am going to take sometime time off to gather my mind and make sure my family is straight so my grades wont be affected again. I was thinking of taking about a year off, maybe a little less got to see how I feel. But technically not a year "off" I would try to work as a Dental assistant somewhere. i already went on craigslist and there are tons of offers in the NYC area where i am from. I figured this would be good because I would be taking "time off" but i am also getting real life experience. Then after about a year I wanted to go back to school as a post-bac. Here I would work on my pre-reqs. and then apply to dental school after all my pre-reqs. are done with. Also since I am graduating early its really not like I would be very far behind if I decided to go this route.
So what do you think this a good plan. Its a little long but I think it makes me a much better candidate when applying to dental school because I will have experience and I can say I had the option to graduate early and I did. I did it because I wanted to make sure the dental feild was right for me, before I completed all my pre-reqs. After I finish with the dental assistant job I can really say yes this is what I want to do or no this is what I dont want to do, and this can give me the motivatation and will power to complete my post-bac and apply for dental school.
...........WOW that is long!!! Its a long road, but you think that it is the right road or I am making a mistake!! Your help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you soooo much again!!
Take some time off to regroup. I had something happen to me in college and because of it I had one really bad semester and the semesters after weren't so great but I had learned to cope and block out that part of my life.
I've thought about writing about it in my personal statement but decided against it. These are your professors and peers that you will see daily that will know this intimate personal thing about you. I am a very private person and I would rather just take the flack for a few bad grades than share something so intimate that many of my closest friends don't even know. Do you really want everyone to know even before you start dental school? These are perfect strangers.
It's up to you what you want them to know.
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^ Horrible advice. If you have a reason for your bad grades, let it be known. Who cares if the adcom knows you have an alcoholic in the family? Your story of you moving to be with your family (I assume to help the situation) shows your compassion. It's not like they're going to be giving you the stink eye: "Oh that kid has a family member who's an alcy, lets tell all his teachers and peers. Also, better watch him around the nitrous." Ridiculous.
If you're comfortable talking about it, go for it but most people aren't. I know someone's who's mother died and their senior year was horrible. The thought of having to speak about it, let alone with a perfect stranger was just too much so they opted to not disclose it.
Do what makes you comfortable.
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Right, because a "normal person" with a "normal life" keeps everything inside.
Look, I didn't say to roll out the tears for the interview (intentionally or unintentionally). Obviously, the level of detail you go into doesn't have to be extreme; you could simply say that you had to deal with very personal family issues that affected your school work. However, I think it's important to have an explanation. In fact, a frontpage story on studentdoctor.net describes just that:
Seriously, talking about this kind of thing isn't going to scar you for life. And why are you so paranoid as to think your PEERS would hear about something like this? Again, simply ridiculous.
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no matter what you do, don't give up. if it affected your grades, then definitely talk about it, but don't make it sound like an excuse. talk about how you've grown from your experiences and how they have made you stronger as a person.
i had a similar situation where i had to drive back home many weekends after a hurricane destroyed my mom's business and damaged our house. although i didn't end up with failing gpa, it definitely afftected my grades.
don't let anything get in your way of achieving your goals.
i had a similar situation where i had to drive back home many weekends after a hurricane destroyed my mom's business and damaged our house. although i didn't end up with failing gpa, it definitely afftected my grades.
don't let anything get in your way of achieving your goals.
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Whatever you do, don't give up! Your plans might have to be reordered, but if you were getting such a high GPA in the beginning, I promise you, you can do it. The only other thing I would say is that as they say, if you're in a hole, stop digging. If you find that you can't get the necessary grades to get in, then taking a semester off and focusing your efforts elsewhere might be worthwhile. But, please don't give up.
So i good some new news for you all .... okay here it goes .... So the pass week or actually even over the pass week I just been living in the library I actually read my Bio text almost fully two times. I basically just have been studying my butt off for the Bio final because doing good on the final was my only hope in pulling up my grade. Anyway I just got my grade back this morning and I got a 92 on it and thats without the curve too. Considering this is worth over 40% of the class it pull my grade up to at least a C without the final curve of the class!! Pretty excited now!! ....... I know a "C" looks a lot better then a "D" however do you think I still need to take this class over? Its my only low grade so far? Thank you to all of you too you were all such a BIGGG HELPP!!!!!
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retake it because of a "C"? absolutely not. what you need to do is make sure you stay focused and finish strong with the rest of your pre req. it took me 7 yrs to finish college and i had a "D" and a few "C's". dental schools look at more than just your grades to admit you. sounds like you are on the right path. i am more than sure you'll be alright in the end.
Good luck with everything else.
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Hey bud, my freshman GPA was a 2.42 for the year abd yes I was accepted on my 1st try to Western. Don't worry about one bad semester, keep fighting and you'll make it!! Best of luck to ya!!
Thanks guys for all the info. and Peerless wow you def. give me hope and inspiration and I don't mean that is a negative way at all your story is pretty spectacular you should be extremely proud of yourself but I doubt I have to tell you that.... if you don't mind me asking what was your final cumulative average? And did you take lots of extra classes to beef up your undergraduate transcript? If anyone else has any other similarities or can help that would be awesome too..... THANKS AGAIN !!! 🙂
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My final GPA at undergrad is a 3.46 and yes, I have taken couple language classes to give me a little boost on the side. I am not a science major so I guess some of the extra classes I TOOK were like biochem, micro, calc, and ochem. Got mostly As and B+s for those "extra classes." Have faith!!! Keep that drive going for ya and you'll make it!!!
